Announcing the 2023-2024 D-E Concerto Competition Winners
Our Music Department has hosted a Winter Concerto Competition for our orchestra students for the past two years. A professional panel of judges evaluate students on their performance. All participants receive generous feedback from the panel to improve their skills. The three winners will perform a solo in upcoming concerts later in the year. We want to congratulate Micah Chan ’27 (cello), Quincy Eby ’24 (violin), and Brandan Zhu ’26 (cello)! We look forward to their performances!
2024 Regional And All-State Winners!
On Saturday, January 6th, two members of the Upper School Orchestra, Oriana Huang ’26, flute, and William Kang ’27, clarinet, entered the competition with 61 and 63 competitors, respectively. They both were awarded seats in the New Jersey Symphonic Band. They performed on January 28 with that band at Parsippany High School.
Oriana Huang ’26 then auditioned for All-State on January 20 among a field of 41 of the strongest flutists in the state and earned a seat in the All-State Symphonic Band. They will play a concert on February 24th at 3:00 pm at the Prudential Hall, Betty Wold Johnson Stage, in Atlantic City. They will be joined by the All-State Wind Ensemble and the Treble Chorus. Tickets are available at the NJMEA Website.
News from the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition
Established in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas, The Cliburn Piano Competition champions pianists’ craft and artistic excellence. The Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and Festival was established in 2015 as another means for the Cliburn to use its standing and expertise to encourage tomorrow’s great artists, to provide a valuable forum for them to express themselves, and to give them an entrance to the next step of their journeys.
Congratulations to Steven Cui ’25 for participating in the international junior piano competition.
News from the YoungArts Competition
YoungArts is a prestigious national competition for performing, visual, and literary artists between the ages of 15-18. Students who receive awards attend the National YoungArts Week to work with peers and distinguished professionals.
Award winners at all levels receive mentorship, financial awards and access to a lifetime of creative and professional development and funding opportunities. Congratulations to the following D-E students for their achievements!
Steven Cui ’25 has been named a 2024 YoungArts winner with distinction in Classical Music.
Edward Gelman ’25 has been named a 2024 YoungArts winner with distinction in Film.
Giana Kim ’24 has been named a 2024 YoungArts winner with distinction in Classical Music.
Oriana Hwang ’26 has been named a 2024 YoungArts winner with distinction in Classical Music.
Bergen County Music Festival
Chris Zhu ‘26 auditioned for the Bergen County band on November 28, 2023. 34 trumpet players auditioned, and Chris performed well enough to make the ensemble! Says Chris of his experience in the Bergen All-County Band and Chorus Festival (which took place January 14, 2024):
All-county was great! It was a little strange being the only DE student there since I had no one I knew to talk to. But, I made friends with the entirety of the trumpet section (12ish people), so that made the experience as a whole a lot of fun. The music we played was also great, each piece was very stylized and expressive in its own special way. My all time favorite was probably Deep River, since it utilized the trumpets in an extremely powerful way. Every musician there had extremely high skill, and playing with them helped elevate myself after a 2 month break from playing the trumpet during the summer. Hopefully next year I can use this experience to help get into regionals.
Congratulations, Chris! If you have any questions about applying for the 24-25 festival, reach out to Ms. Steinberg by October 2024.
Jayden King ’32 Receives Two Awards for Violin | 2023 Camerata Artists Int’l Competition & 2023 Arthur Grumiaux Int’l Violin Competition
Congratulations to Jayden King ’32 for becoming the Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Camerata Artists Int’l Competition (violin), and first prize in the 2023 Arthur Grumiaux Int’l Violin Competition. Jayden will have a solo recital at Juilliard on Februa10th through the Pre-College Division.
Winners of the Crescendo Int’l ‘Little Mozarts’ Competition at Carnegie Hall
Several D-E Lower School students competed in the final round of the Crescendo Int’l Little Mozarts Competition at Carnegie Hall: Samar Hirawat & Aadya Jain.
The Crescendo International Music Competition and Little Mozarts competition are hosted annually to encourage students to perform classical music and to foster the next generation of musicians.
Sphinx Competition
Quincy Eby ’24 (pictured in the featured image), violist, was a semi-finalist in the Sphinx Competition, which draws from Black and Latinx string players from all over the country. The competition was held in Detroit in January.
